


With the End Comes the Light

by benedictedcumberbatched



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Nightmares, Premonition, Redemption, The Dark Side of the Force, The Light Side of the Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 10:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5925892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benedictedcumberbatched/pseuds/benedictedcumberbatched
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the night, there was only the dark. It seeped into every crevice and corner of his lodgings on Yavin 4. It flowed through him too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With the End Comes the Light

**Author's Note:**

> Star Wars and all its associated universes and characters do not belong to me. They belong to George Lucas, Lucas Films, and Disney. I'm merely borrowing them for myself. This fanfiction is not written for profit.

_In the night, there was only the dark. It seeped into every crevice and corner of his lodgings on Yavin 4. It flowed through him too. He had always felt himself destined for other things, despite Uncle Luke’s best efforts. They had told him the stories, he knew what his legacy held. But there was only one legacy he had ever held dear to him. The Force was strong with him just as it was strong throughout his family; but he was more powerful, the whispers told him as such, more than capable to finish what his grandfather had started in the years before._

_He stood over their still bodies. Every last Jedi, both experienced and the younglings, their lives extinguished. He had felt the disturbance in the Force within like a swift and sudden punch to the stomach. The spitting of his lightsaber blended in with the rain hitting the dirt. His men stood around him, ready to continue fighting while he surveyed the carnage he left behind. There was only one missing, Skywalker had escaped. Peace and order must be restored, he drowned the fleeting relief that Luke had escaped and filled the small void it left with fear of what his uncle was capable of starting._

_“You...you’re afraid...that you’ll never be as strong as Darth Vader.” The scavenger was right. More than she even knew. She didn’t have the knowledge he did about his grandfather. Although strong and powerful, ‘The Chosen One’ the Jedi had called him, he was also tempted back to the light. He would hold on to the darkness, let it guide him to achieve his goal. But the light, oh that never ceasing pull like a rope tied around his waist trying to rescue him, was also strong. Supreme Leader Snoke felt it, he felt it, he was sure this scavenger felt it too. How could she not? She was an anomaly, something he hadn’t expected when he set out to do this. She was more powerful than she knew and he could teach her, show her the ways of the Force. He could teach her the things Uncle Luke barely knew and feared._

_He fought with himself. The Light and the Dark fighting for dominance over him. As he stood on the bridge, facing his father for the first time in years, he genuinely didn’t know what he was going to do until he had done it. As he ignited his lightsaber, the look of surprise on Han Solo’s face burning into his eyes, his grief was brief, fleeting even, before he felt the swift pull of the Darkness overtake him. It won this round, but that wasn’t to say it wouldn’t fade again._

_Fear. Anger. Hate. Suffering. Pain. That was all he felt. Pain in his stomach, on his shoulder, across his face. Flashes of red and blue, her face intense as the world around them shook and crumbled. Then she was gone, torn from him as the base split in two._

Kylo Ren rolled over in his sleep. His brow furrowed, the scar down his face scrunching around his eyes as if he were deep in thought. His hands clenched at his bedding, twisting the black fabric. 

_‘She is a threat. She must be destroyed. She is too powerful and when she becomes the new Jedi, she will be too far gone to pull to the dark side. She must be destroyed.’_

_He stood over her, her pale face bathed in the red glow of his lightsaber. Snoke’s words coursed through his head, over and over telling him how she must be stopped. Her face was impassive, her thoughts empty as he reached out to sense anything at all. But all he felt was the Light. It was woven in the very fabric of her being. To him, it was like her entire being was glowing in white light while his was cracked and fading, black to grey. His hand shook, the blade dipping closer to her. With a roar, he wrenched his hand upward and away, tossing the blade aside. “Stop it!” he yelled into the dark. “Get out of my head!”_

_She sat up, her breathing labored as she watched Ren rant. “You. It’s all you. Ever since that night on Starkiller Base, I cannot get you OUT!” he yelled, pointing a shaking finger at the sky._

_Confliction radiated off him in waves. His internal struggle with the Light and the Dark was like the waves crashing against the rocks below. From the corner of his eye, he saw her slowly climb to her feet. She took one wary step toward him, her hands up as if in surrender, but instead showing she meant him no harm. “Ben…”_

_He watched as she stepped toward him, her very being radiating what he had denied himself for so long. His breathing labored, his dark eyes were wide with fear and curiosity. That screaming voice of Supreme Leader Snoke telling him to kill her, destroy her, suddenly silenced with a single, gentle touch to his wrist and the twisted hilt of his lightsaber pulled free from his hands. “You said I needed a teacher. I think you need yours.”_

He bolted upright. His breathing labored like that in his dream. Had it been a dream? He dropped his head into his hands, fingers tugging at his black hair. She was getting under his skin, taunting him, tormenting him. She had escaped his grasp twice and for all he knew, she was on the other side of the galaxy by now. Perhaps she had found Skywalker, pleaded with him to train her. Not that it would do her any good, it hadn’t been for him.

And yet, despite the unwavering resentment and fear he felt, there was a sense of calm. It took him a moment to recognize the feeling. It had been so long since he had felt it in its entirety. A remnant of his almost long forgotten training. He was slipping, falling into a now foreign path. His hands gripped at the bedding. No, he would not allow himself to be drawn back so easily. Snoke was right though, Ren realized as he released the blankets and rubbed his hands over his face. Ben Solo was dead, he constantly reminded himself of the fact that Kylo Ren had killed him, however, for as long as Rey dove in and out of his life, bringing with her fragments of the Light, Ben Solo would continue to live.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is the first time I have ever written a Star Wars related fanfic. Like many, I grew up watching the original trilogy films and then the prequels. Also like many, I was skeptical when they first announced a 7th film, but the closer we got to its release, the more excited I became. I was enthralled with it! So naturally, with such a complex and dynamic character such as Kylo Ren, I grew a soft spot for him. His story, to me, is tragic. I look forward to where the story with go with episodes 8 and 9 but I can only hope for some sort of redemption.


End file.
